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F. C. OLIN. IGNITER FOR GAS ENGINES.

No. 592,881" Patented Nov. 2, 1897.

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7f1inesse UNITED STATES PAT NT QFFICE.

FRED O. OLIN, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE OLIN GAS ENGINECOMPANY, OF'SAME PLACE.

IGNITER FOR GAS-ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Ifatent N 0. 592,881, datedNovember 2, 1897.

' Application filed December 7,1896. Serial No. 614,681. (No'modeL) Toall whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRED O. OLIN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, haveinvented a' new and useful Improvement in Igniters for Gas-Engines, ofwhich the fol lowing is a specification. p

This invention relates to an electric igniter for gas, petroleum, andsimilar engines, and has for its object to produce an i gniter for thispurpose which is simple and, reliab lein operation and which insures theproduction of an effective spark regardless of the speed of the engine.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of agas-engine provided with my improved electric igniter. Fig. 2 is a ver-,

tical. longitudinal section, on an enlarged scale, of the preferred formof my improved igniter. Fig. 3 is a cross-section in line 3 3, Fig. 2.Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the stationary contact and its support.

Like letters of reference refer to like parts in the several figures.

A represents the base of the engine, B the working cylinder, 0 thevalvechest communicating with the Working-cylinder, D the crank-shaft,and E the governor-wheel geared with the crank-shaft, all of which partsmay be of any suitable and well-known construction.

F represents a supporting sleeve or tube which is arranged in an openingin the valvechest so that a portion of the tube projects inside of thechest and a portion outside of the chest. The tube may be secured to thechest in any suitable manner, preferably by providing the tube with ascrewthread and engaging the same with a screw-thread formed in theopening in the valve-chest. The supporting-tube, or any part of theengine which is in metallic connection with the tube, is connected byawire g with one pole of an electric generator G.

H represents a stationary electric contact supported on the inner end ofthe supportingtube and forming the electric terminal of that pole of thegenerator with which the supporting-tube is connected. The latter andthe stationary contact are preferably detachably connected by means ofan internally-screw threaded collar h, engaging with an external inginsulation 2' so that these parts are not in electrical connection. Thescrew-nut or other part in electric connection therewith is connected bya wire 2' with the other pole of the electric generator. 1 I

J represents a reciprocating guide-rod sliding in the guide-sleeve andits screw-nut and provided at its inner end with a head j,which carriesa movable electric contactj and which is adapted to engage with theinner end of the guide-sleeve to limit the outward movement of theguide-rod J. The latter is in electrical connection with theguide-sleeve, so that upon pushing the rod inwardly until its contactbears against the stationary contact the electric circuit is completed,and upon withdrawing the guide-rod the contacts are separated and anelectric spark is produced which ignites the gas in the valve-chest andin the working cylinder. The contacts are normally held out ofengagement with each other by a spring 9' surrounding the guide-rod andbearing with its ends against the screw-nut on theouter end of theguidesleeve and a screw-nut j on the outer end of the guide-rod.

K represents an elbow-lever, whereby the guide-rod is moved inwardly forbringing the contacts together and which is pivoted to the lower end ofa hangerK, secured to the supporting-sleeve. The lower horizontal arm kof the elbow-lever is provided with a dovetail or undercut'r'ecess is,which receives a dovetailed' block 70 of vulcanite or similar insulatingmaterial, which bears against the nut at the outer end of the guide-rod,thereby IOO preventing electrical communication between these parts. Theupper end of the vertical upper arm of the elbow-lever is provided witha bearing blade 70, which is secured thereto by a screw 7;.

L represents a horizontal reciprocating trip or catch rod, which isprovided at its front end with a hook or shoulder Z, engaging with theblade at the upper end of the elbow-lever, and whereby the latter isactuated. This catch or trip rod is guided in a movable yoke or carrierM and is provided on its front portion with a stop-collar m, which isadapted to bear against the front end of the yoke and limit the rearwardmovement of the trip-rod in the yoke or carrier. The trip-rod isnormally held in its rearmost position on the carrier by a spring at,surrounding the rear portion of the triprod and bearing with its endsagainst the carrier and a screw-nut m 011 the trip-rod. The trip-rod isheld against turning in the carrier by any suitable means, preferably bya lip m formed on the front end of the carrier and bearing against aflat side m on the stop-collar of the trip-rod, as represented in Figs.2 and N represents a guide arm or standard which is formed on the hangerand which is providedat its upper end with a fork or bifurcation betweenthe arms 2:, of which the carrier is arranged. The under side of thecarrier is provided with an inclined face 0, which bears against aninclined face 0' on the adjacent portion of the standard and which isadapted to produce a rising-antl-falling movement of the carrier whilethe latter moves lengthwise for the purpose of engaging the hook of thetrip-rod with and disengaging the same from the elbow-lever.

The carrier and connecting parts are yieldingly held in their foremostposition by a spring P, secured with its ends to the carrier and thestandard N. The forward movement of the carrier and connecting parts isproduced by a rock-lever Q, which is connected between its ends by a rodq with the carrier and which is pivoted with its lower end to the baseof the engine and provided at its upper end with a roller q. .Theforward movement of the lever Q is produced by a cam R, arranged on thegovernor-wheel and engaging with the roller 011 the lever, and thebackward movement thereof is produced by the spring P. The cam risesgradually with its advancing or operative side r to the highest pointand then declines gradually with its receding side 0', whereby therock-lever is operated without producing any noise.

In the rearmost position of the carrier and trip-rod the carrier is inits lowermost position on the incline of the standard and the hook ofthe trip-rod is engaged with the blade of the elbow-lever.

During the first portion of the forward movement of the carrier thetrip-rod moves with the same and turns the elbow-lever until the movablecontact on the guide-rod has been lifted into engagement with thestationary contact, whereby the electric circuit is completed and thefurther forward movement of the guide-rod, the elbow-lever, and also theforward movement of the trip-rod for a time is arrested. During thesecond portion of the forward movement of the carrier the latter movesindependent of the trip-rod, thereby compressing the spring m, and atthe same time the carrier is raised by the cooperating inclined faces ofthe carrier and standard, whereby the trip-rod is disengaged from theelbow-lever and the latter and the guiderod carrying the movable contactare quickly returned to their normal position. By this means a quickseparation of the contacts is effected and a powerful spark is producedfor igniting the gas regardless of the speed of the engine. This isparticularly desirable when starting the engine, because at this timethe parts are all moved slowly by hand or otherwise until the firstignition takes place. After the catch has been disengaged from theelbow-lever and the contacts have been separated the rock-lever Qcontinues its forward movement independent of the elbow-lever until theroller q reaches the highest part of the cam R, after which the rollerrides down the receding portion of the cam and permits the rock-lever tomove backwardly.

During the backward movement of the carrier the inclined front side ofthe hook on the trip-rod engages with the elbow-lever and lifts thetrip-rod and carrier until the hook has passed in front of theelbow-lever, when the trip-rod and carrier drop into their normalposition and the abrupt side of the hook engages with the front side ofthe elbow-lever preparatory to producing the next spark.

By inclining both the front and the rear sides of the cam the partscannot be injured by turning the governor-wheel backward, whichotherwise would be liable to happen if only the front side of the camwere inclined and the rear side made abrupt.

I claim as my invention-- 1. In an igniter, the combination with thestationary contact and the movable contact, of a lever whereby themovable contact is moved toward the stationary contact, a carrier havinga back-and-forth and also a lateral movement, and a catch adapted toengage with said lever and yieldingly connected with said carrier,substantially as set forth.

2. In an igniter, the combination with the support carrying a stationarycontact, and the sliding rod guided in said support and provided with amovable contact, of a lever having one of its arms engaging with saidsliding rod, and a carrier having a back-andforth and a lateral movementand provided with a catch adapted to engage with the other arm of thelever, substantially as set forth.

3. In an igniter, the combination with the support carrying a stationarycontact, and a sliding rod guided on said support and provided with amovable contact, of a lcverhaving one of its arms engaging with saidsliding rod, a carrier having a back-and-forth and a lateral movement,and a catch yieldingly connected with said carrier and adapted to engagewith the other arm of said lever, substantially as set forth.

4. In an igniter, the combination with the support carrying a stationarycontact, and a sliding rod guided on said support and provided with amovable contact, of a lever having one of its arms engaging with saidsliding rod, a carrier having a back-and-forth and a lateral movement, amovable catch-rod guided in said carrier and provided with a hookadapted to engage with the other arm of said lever, a spring whereby thecatch-rod is normally moved forwardly on the carrier, and a stop wherebythe forward movement of the catch-rod on the carrier is limited,substantially as set forth.

5. In an igniter, the combination with the support carrying a stationarycontact, and a sliding rod guided on said support and provided with amovable contact, of a lever hav ing one of its arms engaging with saidsliding rod, a carrier having a back-and-forth and a lateral movement, amovable catch-rod guided in said carrier and provided with a hookadapted to engage with the other arm of said lever, a spring whereby thecatch-rod is normally moved forward on the carrier, a flatsidedstop-collar arranged on the catch-rod and adapted to engage with thecarrier to limit its forward movement on the carrier, and a lip orprojection arranged on the carrier and engaging-with the flat side ofthe stop-collar, substantially as set forth.

6. In an igniter, the combination with a support provided with astationary contact, and a sliding rod guided on said support andprovided with a movable contact, of a lever having one of its armsengaging with said sliding rod,-a carrier having a reciprocatingmovement and provided with a catch engaging with the other arm of saidlever, and an in? cline formed on said carrier and engaging with anincline on said support, substantially as set forth.

7. In an igniter, the combination with a support carrying a stationarycontact and a sliding rod guided on said support and provided with amovable contact, of an elbowlever having one of its arms engaging withsaid sliding rod, a carrier having a reciprocating movement and providedwith a catch engaging with the other arm of the elbowlever, a rock-leverconnected with said carrier, a cam and spring whereby said rock-leverand connecting parts are moved forwardly and backwardly, and cooperatinginclines formed on the carrier and the support and adapted to move thecarrier and connecting parts laterally, substantially as set forth.

Witness my hand this 27th day of Novem ber, 1896.

FRED C. OLIN.

Witnesses: JNo. J. BONNER, KATHRYN ELMORE.

